DALLAS — The Dallas Stars would like to see much more of the Colorado Avalanche. They’d just like to perform differently than they did on Sunday.
During a 4-0 loss to the Avalanche on Sunday afternoon, the Stars generated little offense at even-strength, struggled on the power play and watched as the league’s best team executed like the league’s best team should.
“They were the much better team today, there’s no question about that,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “But the biggest thing we have to change between now and Tuesday at 7 o’clock is our attitude. We gave that team way too much respect early, and we didn’t take it to them.
“When we’re an aggressive team, and we’re taking plays to them, [being] physical, then we’re a very good hockey club. When we’re tip-toeing around and watching them play, we’re not. That was the difference in the game.”
The Stars wasted a chance to extend their win streak to three games and notch their biggest win of the season. Dallas went 0 for 3 on the power play — all of which came during the second period — as Colorado created more offense while shorthanded, ringing a post and drawing another penalty on an odd-man rush.
“We had some power play time,” Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. “You get a couple looks there, you’re got to cut the score in half. That would have been a big part for us.”
Meanwhile, the Avs kept on rolling.
They entered the game 21-1-2 in their last 24 games, and came off a win Thursday night against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay. The Avalanche are a team nearly impossible to beat when they score first (now 27-0-3) and actually unbeatable when they lead after the first period (now 21-0-0).
So, it was an issue when the Stars got off to a poor start.
The Avalanche outshot the Stars 13-5 in the opening period and had 22 shot attempts to Dallas’ 15. The Stars’ best chances came on a feeble tip by Roope Hintz as he chased down a loose puck.
“I think we respected them a little too much, especially in the first period,” Stars forward Michael Raffl said. “Just play our game, don’t think too much, go after them and squeeze out a win one way or another.”
Pavelski said: “They were skating early, we were watching a little bit too much.”
During the first intermission, after the Avalanche had taken a 2-0 lead on goals by Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri, Bowness asked his players where their swagger was.
“It wasn’t there,” Bowness said. “It was there sporadically in the second, but certainly wasn’t there in the third. That has to come from within. When you get 20 guys playing with an aggressive mindset, we’re a good hockey club. When we have 20 guys that aren’t aggressive and on the same wavelength, then we’re not.”
When presented with opportunities, the Avalanche made the skilled plays to capitalize.
Makar jumped on a loose puck in the offensive zone, setting up Nathan MacKinnon’s point shot and Landeskog’s tip in the slot. Makar later slid down the wall, drawing three Stars defenders before sliding a pass to Kardi in front.
Colorado even rang three posts in the second period, and kept up the pressure in the third, when they outshot Dallas, 10-4. Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Landsekog (empty-netter) scored in the third.
The Stars travel to Denver to play Colorado on Tuesday night, and the Avs are 21-2-2 at Ball Arena this season.
“Pissed off probably how tonight went, and play with a chip on your shoulder and take it to them,” Raffl said. “They took two points out of our building. We’re going to try to do the same.”
Should the Stars rally in the second half to clinch a playoff spot, it would likely be the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, setting up a first-round date with the Avalanche.
“You’ve got to think you’re going to be seeing this team at some point, if you’re going to go on a run,” Pavelski said. “It’s a good team. It’s a team that we’ve played hard. We’ve had success against them at times. We’ve got to go and play a good game there. If we have to see them in the playoffs, we’ll have to do a job.”
Missing Stars: The Stars were without forward Radek Faksa (lower-body), and defensemen John Klingberg (upper-body) and Andrej Sekera (upper-body) on Sunday, as all three were injured.
Faksa missed his second straight game after absorbing a hit during the third period against Nashville on Wednesday. Faksa did not finish the game against the Predators and has not joined the Stars as a full participant in practice since.
Klingberg took a beating in the first two games after the All-Star break, absorbing a season-high eight hits against Nashville before Brenden Dillon steamrolled him on Friday. It was the seventh game this season that Klingberg has missed.
Sekera has not played since Jan. 28 against Washington, a combination of healthy scratches and missed games due to injury. Without both Klingberg and Sekera, the Stars recalled Thomas Harley from AHL affiliate Texas, and Harley played with Joel Hanley on the third pairing.
Jani Hakanpää skated alongside Esa Lindell in the spot typically occupied by Klingberg. Miro Heiskanen took Klingberg’s spot on the top power play unit, as Jacob Peterson joined the second unit.
Bowness said Faksa, Klingberg and Sekera would skate Monday. The rest of the team will not practice.
Finding comfort: On Friday morning, Stars defenseman Ryan Suter talked about being more and more comfortable in Dallas after spending the last nine years of his career in Minnesota.
“I felt the first half of the year, I was kind of kept on the outside,” Suter said. “The coaches don’t trust you, you don’t know them, really. They kind of have, all coaches have their guys and they’re kind of set in their ways.
“I think I as the year has gone on, I’ve gained their trust. Our team, we’ve had such a roller-coaster of a year and now, I think we’re starting to realize how this team wins. I think it’s going to bode well for us moving forward.”
During the first half of the season, Suter was second on the team in 5-on-5 ice time per game, and was on the second unit on both the power play and penalty kill. But, he had just four total shifts in overtime, and did not play in overtime six times.
On Friday against Winnipeg, Suter was one of the three defensemen Dallas used in overtime, supplanting Esa Lindell.
“Like overtime, we’ve got to get used to him and he’s got to get used to us,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We’ve always gone Esa, John and Miro. Now, he’s a good option for us and he did a great job last night. It’s all those little details of the game.”
Off the ice, Suter has fit in as a youth hockey parent along with Joe Pavelski.
“Up there [in Minnesota], I was telling some of the guys, you don’t go to the store, you don’t go anywhere because it’s like the guys in Canada,” Suter said. “You’re recognized everywhere. Down here, you just kind of blend in, which is refreshing. You get to experience your kids’ sports more as a parent than trying to stay away from everybody. It’s been a great experience.”
Near miss: Stars forward Tanner Kero nearly scored the team’s first goal with six minutes left in the second period, by stabbing at a puck in the crease. Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper covered the puck to get the stoppage. After a quick review, officials ruled that the puck never completely crossed the goal line.
Super Bowl banter: During a television timeout in the first period, the Stars’ game presentation team ran a graphic on the video board that read “At least one Dallas team is playing on Super Bowl Sunday.”
The graphic came after a video of Stars players saying which NFL team was their favorite.
The Dallas Cowboys have not been to the Super Bowl since the 1995 season, and lost to San Francisco on Wild-Card weekend this season.
Glendening hits milestone: Stars forward Luke Glendening played in his 600th career NHL game on Sunday, becoming the 10th active undrafted player to reach the milestone. Glendening is the third current or former Star on that list, joining defenseman Brenden Dillon and forward Mats Zuccarello.
Glendening is in his first season in Dallas after spending the first eight seasons of his career in Detroit. Over the summer, he signed a two-year contract worth $1.5 million annually and entered Sunday with seven goals and three assists in 45 games.
His career-high for goals in a season is 12, set back in 2014-15.
2017 showcase: For the foreseeable future, every time the Stars and the Avalanche meet will be a display of the best players from the 2017 draft.
Between the two teams, they employ the two best defensemen from the draft (Colorado’s Cale Makar and Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen), the best goaltender (Jake Oettinger) and arguably the best forward from the draft (Jason Robertson). Robertson would be competing with Elias Pettersson and Nico Hischier for that title.
Harley’s second time: Harley made his NHL debut during the 2020 postseason against Colorado (during the round-robin), and had a bit more seasoning by the time he faced the Avs again on Sunday.
From his debut — which he later said was “a whole lot of panic out there on the ice for me” — to Sunday, Harley played in eight NHL games and 65 AHL games.
